Unwanted Marks
by PigeonBrain
Summary: Warning! Warning! OC on board Whitebeard's ship! Everybody, load your cannons and fire!... Oh wait, she fainted. Well, we can still dump her overboard, right?


It was a quiet day on board the Moby Dick. They were several miles away from the nearest island, and there were no ships in sight.

But suddenly there was a girl standing on the stern, screaming her lungs out with her hands in the air.

"This is not an attack! Please don't kill me!"

Rakuyo, along with his men who were on watch-duty that day, stared slack jawed. The girl looked normal. She had black hair and looked relatively pretty, though maybe a bit young. Her age was accentuated by an innocent blue hairband. She was also shaking in her pants, though that was maybe a bit misleading, since she was actually wearing a sundress.

Still, it wouldn't be the first time that the government sent child assassins. Rakuyo prepared his flail to bash her skull in.

"Can I see whitebeard? I want to stay here if I can," she said, voice trembling and tears on the ready.

Realizing that his men were buying into her cutie-act, Rakuyo slammed his flail into the ground (breaking it slightly. Boy, the shipwright was gonna _kill_ him later). He stepped forward, flexing his muscles intimidatingly and cocking his head back to let shadows fall over his eyes. "How did you get here?"

The girl fainted, falling off the ship.

Rakuyo opened and closed his mouth. "Well, uh, guess that solved that problem."

* * *

><p>Later the girl came back, though this time she was dragged. More specifically, Namur hauled her into the dining hall to the bafflement of all the spectators.<p>

"Hey Namur, where did you find that girl?" someone called. Namur was a bit embarrassed that he didn't know who is was, but it was a big ship and even if he wanted to he couldn't remember the names of all his brothers.

"She was drowning in the water," Namur said. "I think maybe she was shipwrecked, though there hasn't been any storm lately…"

"Wow, poor girl."

"Does she need medical attention? The doctor is taking care of pops right now though."

Namur shifted the girl so she was hanging on his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. Then he frowned. "Well, I've already given her first aid. But I think I broke her ribs."

Namur's brethren stared at him. "Yeah I think you should take her to the doctor."

* * *

><p>The girl woke up to the smell of sake and a laughter like rolling thunder.<p>

A doctor was leaning over her. "Oh, looks like she's awake pops."

The girl sat up, almost braining the doctor. "Where am I?" She took one good look around at the doctor, the nurses, whitebeard and his logo. "Nevermind, I think I know."

"Gurarara, that's good," whitebeard spoke. He was the one who had laughed before. It was a pleasant laughter, though intimidating. "Namur found you in the water, though Rakuyo here," he nodded his head. "Says you're not a shipwreck."

The girl whipped her head around, and was suddenly face to face to the moustached man. "Gyaaa!"

The doctor shook his head at her antics. "You'd better tell us how you got here girly before we decide to just dump you overboard."

"I j- j-jumped," she said.

The stares she got made it clear she hadn't explained anything at all.

"Ah, um, I can jump on air."

Their eyes hardened. "Geppou?" Rakuyo asked. "That's it, we should dump her. She's obviously with the government."

"Eh? No wait, don't do that!" the girl squeaked. "I'm here to join you! I-if you'll have me," she amended.

Whitebeard cocked his eyebrow. "Join? Gurarara. You want to join."

The girl turned hopeful eyes to him. "Can I?"

"No." Whitebeard said.

Her smile dropped. "Why not?" she challenged. "I'm pretty strong."

Whitebeard's smile dropped too. "What a cheeky brat."

The girl paled and immediately dropped to the floor, bowing. "Sorry!"

"Don't be so afraid. We're not dumping you into the ocean," Whitebeard said, shooting an annoyed glance at Rakuyo who had been just about to suggest it. "If you can jump home like how you got here then that's fine. Else we'll drop you off at the next harbor."

The girl frowned. "I don't really care. If you throw me off the ship I'll just jump back on."

The doctor cocked his eyebrow. "Girl, six of your ribs are broken. You're not jumping anywhere."

"Psh. Mere fleshwounds," she said. She ignored the doctor's indignant spluttering. "Anyway, I'm not going anywhere, so please let me stay!"

"You know, if you continue to annoy us, we'll just kill you," Rakuyo said darkly.

That possibility clearly threw her off the stride, but then she straightened her back. "No, I don't think you are. You seem nice," though she threw a glance at Rakuyo, clearly not sure if she should include him in that, "and you wouldn't kill a kid right? I'm only fif- twelve." She averted her eyes.

The doctor narrowed his eyes. "You're fifteen aren't you?"

Her eyes popped out in shock. "How did you know?! A-anyway you still wouldn't kill me right? I'm injured and stuff!"

"Don't push your luck brat," Whitebeard said. "You're getting off next harbor."

She pouted. "You didn't even consider or anything…"

"We don't need little girls on our ship," Rakuyo said with a mean grin.

"I'm not a little girl! I'm twenty!"

There was a notable pause after that. "Well, you're still getting dumped. At the next harbor," Rakuyo added, under Whitebeard's disapproving glare.

The girl grimaced, but then perked up. "I don't care if you don't want me. My name is Spire Heier," she smiled and saluted them. "And you're going to be seeing a lot more to me from now on."

* * *

><p>They dumped her at the next harbor. Heier came back two days later. They tried dumping her into the ocean, but she was a pretty good swimmer when she wasn't unconscious. The next island they chained her to a stone and sailed away as fast as possible. She caught up to them in a week.<p>

In the end, they decided keeping her was less trouble than getting rid of her. Besides, she was kind of growing on them.

* * *

><p>Two month later, Whitebeard called her forth. Heier covered slightly. It was the first time she'd seen him in person since she'd first arrived, and he didn't look happy. She wasn't sure if it was anger or disappointment she saw on his face, and she certainly didn't know what's she'd done to deserve it.<p>

Whitebeard pinned her with a glare. "I've heard you've tattooed my mark. I know you've always wanted to be a part of us, but this is going too far. You're still not an official part of us."

Heier frowned, but straightened her back. "I didn't tattoo your mark."

Whitebeard was unimpressed. "Don't lie now. Several of my sons said they saw it."

"Well they didn't look properly then," Heier snapped back. Whitebeard's eyes darkened and she hastily amended. "I'll show you okay?"

Heier turned her back and shifted her clothes. It was the worst tattoo he had ever seen to be honest, lopsided and contorted as though she'd tattooed it herself.

But that wasn't the worst part. Whitebeard didn't mind that his sons proudly tattooed his mark, but his _one_ rule — other than "don't kill your brothers" — was: "Don't tattoo my mark below your navel".

Hers was a tramp-stamp.

Heier whipped her head around when his killing intent ripped the air, and dropped her shirt down again. "Okay, I know what it looks like, but it's not what you think it is!" she said desperately.

Marco grimaced, clearly embarrassed on her behalf. "Really? So that isn't the most horrible tattoo I've ever seen? Well that's a relief."

"No, i- it's…" Heier's shoulders dropped and gloom surrounded her. "It's just a really big, ugly birthmark. It happens to be shaped like your mark," she said in monotone.

Whitebeard snorted, and opened his mouth ready to call her on her lie. But then he closed it again with an awful suspicion. "Don't tell me… This is why you wanted to join?"

Heier sighed deeply. "Yep."

Whitebeard and Marco exchanged a glance. "So things like this really happens," Marco whispered.

"The ocean truly is a large place," Whitebeard said sagely. "Gurarara."


End file.
